Friday, April 08, 2016

This has been an age-old tradition in Rajgarh--Muslims taking the flag of Lord Hanuman from the famous dargah to the temple on the occasion of Gudi Padwa.

The 'Hanuman dhwaj' is taken from the Baba Badakhshani's dargah with fanfare every year.

Also, in March, the 'chaadar' is brought from Ram-Janki temple to the Dargah during the Sufi saint's Urs.

This year too, the 'flag' was taken out amid drum beats.

On way, large number of citizens participated in the annual march. The 'Yatra' reaches Parayan mandir, where the people carrying the flag were welcomed.

All the associated rituals were observed. The temple committee members take the flag. Subsequently, there is 'puja' and the Lord Hanuman flag is hoisted on the temple.

The district administration also takes part in this ritual. "It was in 1979-80, when the tradition had begun. The socio-literary organisation Qalamkar Parishad had begun this tradition of taking the 'jhanda' from the Islamic shrine to the temple", said local residents.

Now, hundreds of residents and officials of district administration attend it.When the flag was taken out on Thursday, district collector was also present, apart from other senior officers.

The flag was hoisted at the summit of the temple.

Baba Badakhshani's dargah is a symbol of communal harmony in Rajgarh and this tradition symbolises the syncretic culture of the region.

Shahida Qureshi, Ramsingh Prahri, Jamil Ahmad, Raghunandan Sharma and Dinesh Nagar are amongst those who were the first to take out this flag.

Rajgarh is a district adjoining Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.

Though it is quite close to Bhopa, it is also considered a part of Malwa region, as it is not far from Indore.

[Harmony exists all around us but is often ignored. Instead, stories of hate, discord and communalism get spread easily. There are a million examples in our daily lives across India but they don't get promoted, hence, news of hate and discord gets heard more. Let's change it, now. This is a small attempt to change it through Communal Harmony Project]

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